Plugin system

Koha’s Plugin System allows for you to add additional tools and reports to Koha that are specific to your library. Plugins are installed by uploading KPZ ( Koha Plugin Zip ) packages. A KPZ file is just a zip file containing the perl files, template files, and any other files necessary to make the plugin work.

Warning

There is no vetting process by the Koha community for plugins. Each plugin is maintained and tested by its provider and contributors. Use plugins at your own risk.

The plugin system needs to be turned on by a system administrator.

Set up

To set up the Koha plugin system you must first make some changes to your install.

Change <enable_plugins>0</enable_plugins> to <enable_plugins>1</enable_plugins> in your koha-conf.xml file
Restart your webserver

On the Tools page you will see the Tools Plugins and on the Reports page you will see the Reports Plugins.

Installing a plugin repository

In the koha-conf.xml file, there should be a <plugin_repos> tag. This tag is used to tell Koha in which git repositories to search for plugins.

Each individual repository is in a <repo> tag. Inside this tag are the repository’s information.

<name> is the name of the company or individual whose repository this is.
<org_name> is the username of the company or individual on the git service.
<service> is the git platform used to host the repository.

Several repositories are available in the default configuration file. You can uncomment one or all.

<plugin_repos>
  <repo>
    <name>ByWater Solutions</name>
    <org_name>bywatersolutions</org_name>
    <service>github</service>
  </repo>
  <repo>
    <name>Theke Solutions</name>
    <org_name>thekesolutions</org_name>
    <service>gitlab</service>
  </repo>
  <repo>
    <name>PTFS Europe</name>
    <org_name>ptfs-europe</org_name>
    <service>github</service>
  </repo>
</plugin_repos>

Installing and using plugins

See the plugins section in the administration chapter of this manual to learn how to install and use plugins in Koha.